Car construction



June 23, 1925.

J. o. NEYIKIRK can c'ousmuc'rron Filed March 13. 1922 Patented June 23, 1925 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN O. NEIKIRK, 0F LOMBARD, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR'TO RODGER BALLAST CAR COM- PANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

CAR consriworroiv.

Application filed March 13, 1922. Serial No. 543,151.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN O. NEIKIRK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lombard, in the county of Du Page and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car Constructions of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a new and improved car construction and more particularly to the construction of dump cars.

In dump cars of the types having laterally opening doors which, when closed, form a substantially flat floor forthe car and in similar types of cars having floor doors, it is customary to provide door operating means consisting of a rotatable shaft located above the floor level and connected to the doors by means of chains. Such shafts and their operating mechanism take up considerable room laterally of the car, particularly when the shafts have the door controlling chains wrapped around the shafts upon the doors being closed. If placed above the floor level, the shafts must be placed latorally of the car and since the car clearances are'definitely limited by the railroad structures and since it is desirable to have the maximum capacity within the car body,

it is highly desirable to provide a car con- In cars of the type referred to, it is 0115- tomary to provide the necessary strength for the car sideby means of a truss construction. The lower chord of the truss is preferably located above the car floor or at least above the outer edge of the doors for that portion of the car intermediate the'two body bolsters. Bey-0nd the body bolster, a difi'erent system of discharge doors is required since the clearances over the trucks will not permit the full down swinging of the'doors. If it is therefore' desired to place a laterally opening door into the side, it is essential that the lower chord of the truss construction beyond the body bolster be located below the'floor level.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a car of the type described in which the car sides are so formed as to permit placing the door operating shaft laterally of the car side without extending beyond the prescribed clearance limits and without seriously diminishing the carrying capacity of the car.

It is a further object to provide a car construction in which means are provided adjaoent the free ends of the floor doors adapted to prevent flow of material over the doors, within a range of movement of the doors adjacent the closed position.

It is an additional object to provide a car side truss construction adapted to permit free passage for material below the lower truss member throughout the intermediate portion of the car and above the lower truss the body bolsters.

'Other and further objects will appear as the description proceeds.

In the specific embodiment which I have chosen for purposes of illustration, the lower truss member intermediatethe body bolsters consists of a longitudinally extending Z-bar coacting with a bent plate to form an outwardly facing recess in the lower portion of the car sides adjacent the car floor. The door operating shaft is carried adjacent and parallel to the recess, which recess serves to furnish space for the chains to wrap around the shaft in closing the doors. The intermediate portion of the Z-bar is adapted to engage the upper face of the door while the lower leg of the Z-bar engagesthe outer edge of the door. The lower chord of the truss beyond the body bolsters preferably consists of a channel located below the floor and connected adjacent the body bolsters to the Z-bar and bent plate.

I have illustrated a preferred embodiment of my invention in the accompanying drawings, in which: 7

Figure I is a side elevation of one-half of a car constructed according to my invention;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary transverse section taken on line 22 of Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a fragmentary transverse section taken on line 3 3 of Figure 1.

Referring now to the drawings, the car consists of a body bolster to which is con nected the longitudinal frame members 5. The car sides are supported by means of a truss construction comprising vertical member 6 which is located above and directly connected to the body bolster, an upperchord member 7 vertical members 8 and 9 which are connected to cross-bearers 10 of the lower car frame, diagonals 11, 12 and 13, and the lower chord 14: which latter is best shown in section in Figure 2.

As shown in Figure 2, this lower chord consists of a bent plate 15 and the Z-bar 16. The upper leg of the Z-bar is overlapped by the lower portion of the bent plate. The intermediate portion 17 of the Z-bar is in contact with the upper surface of the swinging door 18. This door 18 is pivoted at 19 adjacent the upper edge of the center sills 20. The door is connected by the chain 21 to the door operating shaft 22. The upper end of the chain is connected to the shaft and is wrapped around the shaft in closing the door. Theshaft is supported in the vertical truss members 6, 8 and 9 and is further supported by straps 23 as shown in Figure 1. The shaft is provided with suitable rotating mechanism 24: which forms no part of the present invention and need not be discussed in detail. 7

The lower chord member beyond the body bolster t consists of a channel 25 which channel is extended sufficiently inwardly of the body bolster to secure adequate connection to. the Z-bar 17. An outwardly swingng door 26 is provided in the car side above the channel member 25. That portion of the truss outwardly of the body bolsters I further consists of the top chord, an end vertical 27, and the diagonal 28.

The particular formation of the lower chord member intermediate the body bolsters serves to permit the door operating shaft to be located sufficiently inwardly of the outer contour of the vertical members 8, 9, etc. as to prevent any possibility of the wrapped chain from extending beyond the clearance limits of these vertical members and further prevents danger of the chain being jammed between the shaft and the car side.

The lower leg of the Z-bar which extends beyond the outer edge of the swinging'doors permits those doors to move downwardly an appreciable amount before any material can flow over the door out of the car. Thus a limited range of varying adjustment of the several door control chains is permitted. The angle of the intermediate portion of the bent plate 15 prevents the pocketing of any of the material in the car and aids in guiding it to the door.

By placing the lower chord beyond the body bolsters below the floor level, the doors 26 can be placed with their lower edges upon the floor level which much facilitates the discharge of material from the end portions of the cars.

The particular construction shown is to be understood to be illustrative only and I contemplate such changes and modifications to meet varying conditions, as come within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim: i

1. In a dump car, a side truss construction, the lower chord of the truss extending adjacent the car floor and being formed with an outwardly facing recess located within the contour of the car, dump doors, and door operating shafts supported parallel to and adjacent the recess.

2. In a dump car, a side truss construction, a longitudinal chord of the truss having its portion intermediate the'body bolsters of the car located on one side of the car floor and its portion beyond the bolsters ing its portion intermediate thebody bolsters of the car located above the car floor and its portion beyond the bolsters located below the floor, the portion intermediate the bolsters being formed with an outwardly facing recess. v j

5. In a dump car, a side truss construction having a chord of the truss extending adjacent the car floor, said chord being formed of a bent plate and Z-bar, these members together facing recess.

6. In a dump car, a side truss construction having a chord of the truss extending adjacent the ear floor, said chord being formed of a bent plate and Z-bar. the intermediate portion of the Z-bar being placed horizontally and the bar and plate together forming an outwardly facing recess.

7. In a dump car, a side truss construction downwardly opening floor doors having gitudinal truss member having one portion thereof adapted to engage the upper surface forming an outwardly.

of the door edges when in the fully closed position and having another portion extending downwardly adjacent the free edges and adapted to prevent discharge of material when the doors are adjacent the tully closed position. 7

9. In a dump car, a side truss construction, a longitudinal chord of the truss having its portion intermediate the body bolsters of the car located above the car floor and its portion beyond the bolsters located below the floor, swinging dump doors in the floor of the car between the body bolsters and laterally opening doors in the car sides above the truss chord in the car portions beyond the bolsters.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, this 9th day of March, 1922.

JOHN O. NEIKIRK. 

